Former Olympique Marseille coach Rolland Courbis was set to go before a judge on Sunday and could face up to two years in prison, Marseille prosecutors said. Courbis, 56, was arrested on Saturday at a Ligue 1 match between Olympique Marseille and Montpellier and detained overnight by local police.
The former coach was about to commentate on the game at Marseille's Velodrome stadium for a French radio station when police swooped. He was sentenced to two years in prison in October 2007 for his role in financial irregularities regarding transfer deals at Marseille from 1997 to 1999.
An appeal court ruled last October that the sentence would stand and Courbis therefore knew that could be summoned by prosecutors at any time. "I don't understand because they (police) know where to find me and they could have done it in a more gentle way," Courbis was quoted as saying by French sports daily L'Equipe on its website (www.lequipe.fr).